Nationwide MNP by February

Come February and the government hopes to let you retain your mobile number even if you shift to another state, provided you have a postpaid connection.

Telecom minister Kapil Sibal on Thursday set a February 2013 deadline for nationwide Mobile Number Portability (MNP), although putting the infrastructure to manage the shift is going to be tough. Currently, there are two entities managing MNP but officials say they have limited capacity and scaling up over the next two months may be a tough ask.

Sibal announced at a conference that MNP has been included on the telecom department's agenda for the next three months (up to February). Some of the key initiatives to be completed by February 2013 are approval of spectrum assignment and pricing, unified licences regime, M&A guidelines, finalization of guidelines for spectrum sharing, creation of fund for R&D and manufacturing and, of course, MNP on a nationwide basis, he said. While the elements were part of the New Telecom Policy announced by the minister, what is missing from the immediate agenda is the shift to a zero-roaming regime, something that the government had promised.